It is a cold, wet night in the middle of the Amazon. I have been here for four years now fighting for the United States against Brazil and many other South American countries. My name is Kyle, and I am a tall, brute man. I am twenty-four years old. I have forgotten all other ways of life except for war.

I am hiding underneath my camouflage until it is three in the morning and the gunshots stop. I am going to move through the valley that is heavily guarded by the Brazilians so that I can meet up with the rest of my soldiers. The Brazilians will be asleep by then, so I can go through it easily without notice. I still carry my M-16 in my hands just in case one of them is still up and sees me.

It is now five o’clock in the morning and I have made it through the valley without anybody seeing me. I am getting really close to the other soldiers because I can already smell the whiskey and cigars they have. About five minutes later I reach the base and see my best friend Billy. He sees me too and comes walking over holding a bottle of whisky in his hand.

"Where have you been? We thought you might have been killed," Billy says.

"No, No I got lost when we all separated to get away from the planes." I say.

"Thank God that you made it back," he says.

I am really tired from the long journey across the valley, so I decide to go to sleep for a while. I must have been asleep for only three hours when all of a sudden Billy comes and wakes me up. He tells me that the Brazilians have found out our base and are attacking us. I jump up and grab my gun, running outside with him.

Right when we get out of the door, a bullet goes right by my face. We immediately hit the ground and crawl to pile of sand bags for protection. As I look around, most of the American soldiers have been killed and there are just about eight of us left. I look back over at Billy, only to find that he has been shot in the leg twice. He is bleeding very badly, so I quickly tear off my sleeves and wrap them around his wounds to stop the bleeding. I then pick up Billy and put him over my shoulders. I carry him off into the jungle under some leaves so no one can find us.

"If we don’t get you to a hospital base quickly you will die," I say.

I can barely understand what he says next, but just enough to know that he is telling me he has a radio in his backpack. I pull it out and try to reach a helicopter to come and pick us up. After about ten tries, I finally reach one, but they say I will have to carry him into a clearing about 200 feet away where they will pick us up. I put him back on my shoulders and try to carry him there. I am only about fifty feet from the clearing when I am also shot in the leg. I fall, hitting my head on a rock, knocking myself out.

The last thing I remember is a soldier picking Billy and me up, one at a time, and carrying us to the helicopter. I wake up three days later with a nurse hovering over me telling me to stay still. I look down merely to see that they amputated my leg off and I know I will never be able to walk again. I asked the nurse if she knows where Billy is. She looks at me with a sad face. What she tells me next I can hardly believe, "Your friend Billy died two days ago in a bed next to you. He lost so much blood in the jungle that we couldn’t get enough back into him."

After a couple of days I am released from the hospital and sent back to the United States. My family is waiting at the airport for me and ready to take me home. I get a letter the next day saying that Billy and I have received the Silver Star and started to cry knowing he won’t be with me to get it. I visit Billy’s parents that day and tell them that their son was the most courageous and kindest man I have ever known.

At the ceremony when I received the Silver Star, I say a few words, "I am a very lucky man to be here, and without the help of my best friend, Billy, I wouldn’t be here today. He was one of the best soldiers ever, and he will forever be in my memories and heart." I turn my head away, looking out the window where I will stare for a long time. Eventually, after struggling to clear my head of negative thoughts, I manage to go back and sit down.